An ad hoc committee under the auspices of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will conduct a consensus study on fostering healthy mental, emotional, and behavioral development among children and youth.

As background to the study, the committee will review and synthesize the available research and analysis on areas of key advances and persistent challenges since the publication of the 2009 National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine report, Preventing Mental, Emotional, and Behavioral Disorders Among Young People: Progress and Possibilities (2009 MEB report).

The committee may consider questions such as:

1. How has the context changed since the publication of the 2009 MEB report in areas such as cross-sector partnerships, creation of infrastructures for the implementation of prevention, incidence and prevalence trends for specific conditions, integration of MEB health strategies into other healthcare settings, risk and protective factors, cultural and linguistic factors, and cost-saving strategies?

2. How has the state of the science changed since the publication of the 2009 MEB report in areas relevant to fostering MEB health among children and youth, such as the core components of evidence-based strategies (community and practice-based) essential to producing positive outcomes, implementation science, public health approaches, and utilization of data and quality improvement systems?

3. What interventions have been effectively implemented and what program and policy gaps must be addressed to better achieve the prevention of MEB disorders and promotion of healthy MEB development, such as workforce development and infrastructure to support implementation at scale?

4. What has been the progress since the 2009 report specifically on two-generation approaches to foster healthy MEB development with respect to evidence of effectiveness and dissemination for those approaches?

5. What has been learned since the publication of the 2009 MEB report about the influence of the environmental context on neurobiology and what are the implications for strategies to foster MEB development among children and youth.

6. What has been learned about increasing health equity in the context of fostering healthy MEB development of children and youth?

7. What role does practice based evidence, including community defined evidence in multicultural settings play in fostering healthy MEB development among children and youth and how do we further develop the evidence that certain community and cultural practices work?

8. What role do complementary (e.g., mindfulness, meditation, yoga) and integrative approaches (e.g., optimizing evidence-based interventions with mindfulness, meditation, yoga) play in fostering healthy MEB development of children and youth?

Based on the review and analysis of the information gathered and confidential deliberations, the committee will produce a consensus report with actionable recommendations for specific agencies and organizations to lead efforts into the next decade.